Community Chat

[gloriajean]

Shine a little brighter today because someone needs your light.
Lord, may I reflect You like sun hitting a mirror.


S C R I P T U R E F O R T H E D A Y

"My help comes from the LORD, who made heaven and earth."
~Psalm 121:2


M E D I T A T I O N F O R T H E D A Y

I can believe that God has all power. It is God's to give. God does
not withhold power from those who seek God and dwell near God. It is
breathed in by the person who lives in God's presence. I can learn to
live in God's presence and then I will have those things which I desire
of God: strength, power and joy. god's power is available to all who
need it and are willing to accept it.

P R A Y E R F O R T H E D A Y

I pray that I may get myself out of the way, so that god's power may
flow in. I pray that I may surrender myself to God's power.

Hello my friends! How was your day? I didn't work today - so it was nice and relaxing, and a nap happened, too! Just an ordinary day! My blessings was a nice, long phone call from Darla this afternoon! How I long to see her! She says she heard we should be getting more snow around that time, so we'll pray hard that it doesn't bother the roads for their trip!! May God grant safety for all travelers! Graduation for her students was last night, and she's grading their work now, she would be on her way here if Greg was off work, but they want to go together, and I'm glad they are. New Year's Day they leave to go back. Jan. 2nd he's back at work.
Linus had another appt. at Dr. Mike's for his knee - it's getting better, but he's still scared to go work without his brace. Thanks for all your prayers!


Homily of the Day


December 20, 2010


Nothing Is Impossible with God
by Monsignor Dennis Clark, Ph.D.

Is 7:10-14 / Lk 1:26-38

Three men were pacing nervously outside the delivery room at a hospital when the head nurse cam out beaming. To the first she said, “Congratulations, sir, you are the father of twins.”

“Terrific!” said the man, “I just signed a contract with the Minnesota Twins and this’ll be great press.”

To the second man the nurse said, “Congratulations to you too. You are the father of healthy triplets!”

“Fantastic!” he said. “I’m the vice-president of 3-M Company. This’ll be great P.R.!”

At that point the third man turned ashen and ran for the door. “What’s wrong, sir? Where are you going?” called the nurse.

As he jumped into his car, the man shouted, “I’m dashing to my office to resign. I’m the president of 7-UP!”

+ + +

Run for the hills! This can’t be!

That’s exactly what Mary was feeling as she listened to the angel spell out what God wanted of her: “Virgin birth?! Are you crazy? Who’s going to believe that? I’ll be stoned to death as soon as the neighbors see I’m pregnant! Dear God, what are you asking of me?”

We know the feeling: “Dear God, what are you asking of me? How can I make a life out of this pile of junk you’ve given me? How am I going to survive till the end of the year — till the end of the week? How am I ever going to make a silk purse, when I don’t even have a sow’s ear? It’s impossible, absolutely impossible!”

We’ve felt that and said that often enough. But it isn’t true, as Mary showed us: Her whole being was so profoundly open to the Spirit that God filled her entirely with His own life and Jesus our Savior was conceived in her womb — the impossible happened.

So it can be with us who are daunted by life’s “impossibilities.” The key, as Mary learned, is not trying to do it all by ourselves: Working alone is a recipe for failure. The key to doing the impossible is learning how to let God in and let God lead; learning how to listen to Him and to see the world through his eyes; learning with His help to re-imagine our lives and to sing the words of a new song; learning from Him how to grow our minds and our hearts very large.

With God as our mentor and guide, our wisdom, our courage and our strength, with God as our partner, nothing is impossible. What a tragedy it would be to languish forever in a world of small hearts and tiny visions, a world of impossibilities. The choice is ours! And God is listening for our “Yes,” just as He listened for Mary’s. He is ready a waiting to fill us very, very full!

Reflection on Nativity Scenes
Rev. Johann G. Roten, SM

Re-creating the scene of Christ's birth is one of the most tender and enduring Christmas traditions. Making representations of the Nativity is a universally popular art form which has flourished in Europe since the sixteenth century. In every language, it is known for its focal point, the crib of the Infant Jesus creche in France, Krippe in Germany, presepio in Italy, Belem in Portugal, presebre in Spain, and nacimiento in Latin America.


Cribs have been created in different styles and methods of construction. Besides the exquisite wood carvings of Bavaria and the lavish creations of the Neapolitan Baroque, there are simpler styles descended from ancient crafts and diverse traditions; new styles of folk and primitive art appear. The use of humble materials paper, cork, wood, straw and precious ones silver, coral, pearl indicates that all creation has been touched by God's coming.

Interest in the crib continues on different levels and in different ways. Collectors vie to acquire centuries-old masterpieces from art dealers. Churches and families add to and repair crib sets which have been passed down from generation to generation. Nativity scenes from Africa, Asia, and Latin America take their place alongside those from Europe. Contemporary creations portray Joseph and Mary as a homeless family huddled together on a city grate which provides warmth.

In late summer of 1994, an earnest effort was begun at the Marian Library to collect various cultural expressions of the nativity scene. To date, the collection consists of about 620 nativity sets from many parts of the world: Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Italy, France, India, Africa, Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Puerto Rico, Santo Domingo, Haiti, Peru, Chile, and the United States. Noticeably missing to date are a few cultural expressions of the nativity from Eastern Europe, Spain, Portugal, Japan, China, Holland, Belgium.


The goals we set in establishing such a collection are the following. We wish to show Mary in context the context of family, of society, and of the circumstances unique to a culture, and, simultaneously, to foster affection for Mary in this context. Such a collection is a contribution to the study of religion and culture, providing material for analyzing the various expressions and the interaction of religion and culture as depicted in religious festivities, costume, and folklore. We also wish to highlight the popular character of religion, the ways in which it reflects the age-old aspirations and fears of the human soul. A further element or concern is an attempt to rediscover aspects of religious psychology and how culture deals with them.

The creche collection has developed into an ongoing project which, as a significant source for the study of the Incarnation, also finds affiliation in International Marian Research Institute courses and research.

The nativity sets here presented are but a fraction of the whole collection highlighting some of the many and different features attributed to Christ's coming in this world. They show how the unique event of Christ's birth in Bethlehem enters into and becomes part of the life story of families and peoples.

At present, we are planning to expand our project into a noteworthy state-of-the-art collection for The Marian Library/International Marian Research Institute. We are searching for the following: old creches (as a means to survey their historical development); nativity scenes crafted by individual artists (when possible, signed by the artist and with some information about the artist); new expressions of the nativity scene; and creches from various countries, especially those not yet represented in the collection.

SEASON'S MEETINGS
Author Unknown



Each year we ring in the holiday season by attending dozens of holiday
meetings. This Christmas committee, that planning event. Then we still
have to make the rounds to every store in the metro-plex. 'Tis the
season for weeks of ulcer inducing meetings and shopping, then
wrapping for about 72 straight hours. Christmas morning I find myself
sitting around the tree with a glazed look and half a roll of tape
stuck in my hair.

I stack three stories of gifts in front of each child. Within ten
minutes we're up to our eyeballs in wrapping paper. I have five
children. That's five three-story gift stacks and about 1200 yards of
wrapping paper. Last year it took us three days to find the cat.

I was scanning for Christmas sales when I ran across an Internet ad:
"100 FREE HOURS!" That's it! That's what I want for Christmas! Not the
Internet service--just the hours. My holiday calendar could make grown
men weep.

Even if we can't have a chestnut or two roasting on an open fire, it
seems we should at least be able to find time for some popcorn popping
in the microwave. Visions of sugarplums? I don't think so. There
hasn't been a silent night around our place since the season began.

Maybe we're being sucked in to the idea that we need to "super size"
the holidays the same way we're tempted to upgrade every fast food
lunch. We convince ourselves that to have a socially complete
Christmas, we need to super-size our schedules--adding more, spending
more, eating more. I'm popping Tums just thinking about it.

But let's take a look at the big Christmas picture. Jesus didn't come
into the world so that we could enjoy a nice story about a reindeer.
He didn't come so that our kids could put on a cute play.

Christ was born so that through his sacrificial death, we could be
reconciled to a holy God. Emmanuel, "God With Us," came to pay our sin
debt. Christmas is not for making us overworked and overwhelmed, but
for celebrating how we have been made overcomers.

The season becomes a real celebration when we learn to rest in the
faithful hands of the One who has overcome the world. Guess what we
find when we rest in him: Peace! Jesus said in John 16:33, "...in me
you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of
good cheer, I have overcome the world." The Lord has done the
overcoming on our behalf. He's the one who
gives peace. The only thing we truly need to work for is the resting
ability.

If your holiday schedule is keeping you up nights and you'd like a
little sleep in heavenly peace, maybe 'tis the season for saying some
"no's"--for sanity's sake. As for that Internet ad, if someone could
actually give me those extra 100 hours, what would I do with them?
Would I cram them to the brim with more activities? The truth is that
we have loads of time--24 hours every day. Focusing 24/7 on the God
who provided Christmas is the way to find a fulfilling holiday
season.

I've decided to take time to stop and smell the poinsettias- -and find
the cat.

Good Luck Means God

This is a story about a husband rushing to the shopping center to find a last minute anniversary gift for his wife. Just as he was going through the door of the supermarket, an impatient shopper came rushing out, bumping an elderly lady and sending her parcels flying. No one stopped to help her.

John looked at his watch. In a few minutes the store would be dosed. What should he do? The poor old lady looked so upset.... Well, John helped her gather up everything. She gave him such a sweet smile, that he was charmed into seeing her safely to her bus. Then John dashed back to the supermarket, just as the security man had locked all the doors. So - all he could buy his wife was a bunch of flowers.

One night about two months later, John was hundreds of miles from home, driving through a heavy rainstorm when his tire blew out. He found that his spare tire was also flat. So, dripping wet, he climbed back into the car and waited and waited in the dark.... Finally, he saw two headlights coming down the road.... He waved frantically, and the car stopped. inside, was that same old lady, he had helped some weeks before.

She explained that she was actually on the wrong road. Back somewhere, she had taken a wrong turn. And so it was by pure luck that she happened to be here, just when she could be of help.

Any Christian, of course, knows that there is no such a thing as luck. Luck is another word for God working behind things... like caring for the birds of the air and the lilies of the field and the hairs of your head, as Matthew says in 6:28.

A Christmas Story

I remember my first Christmas adventure with Grandma. I was just a kid. I
remember tearing across town on my bike to visit her on the day my big sister
dropped the bomb: There is no Santa Claus, she jeered. Even dummies know that!

My Grandma was not the gushy kind, never had been. I fled to her that day
because I knew she would be straight with me. I knew Grandma always told the
truth, and I knew that the truth always went down a whole lot easier when
swallowed with one of her world-famous cinnamon buns. I knew they were
world-famous, because Grandma said so. It had to be true.

Grandma was home, and the buns were still warm. Between bites, I told her
everything. She was ready for me. No Santa Claus? she
snorted....Ridiculous! Don't believe it. That rumor has been going around
for years, and it makes me mad, plain mad!! Now, put on your coat, and let's
go.

Go? Go where, Grandma? I asked. I hadn't even finished my second
world-famous cinnamon bun.

Where turned out to be Kerby's General Store, the one store in town that had
a little bit of just about everything. As we walked through it's doors,
Grandma handed me ten dollars. That was a bundle in those days. Take this
money, she said, and buy something for someone who needs it. I'll wait for
you in the car. Then she turned and walked out of Kerby's.

I was only eight years old. I'd often gone shopping with my mother, but
never had I shopped for anything all by myself. The store seemed big and
crowded, full of people scrambling to finish their Christmas shopping. For a
few moments I just stood there, confused, clutching that ten-dollar bill,
wondering what to buy, and who on earth to buy it for.

I thought of everybody I knew: my family, my friends, my neighbors, the kids
at school, the people who went to my church. I was just about thought out,
when I suddenly thought of Bobby Decker. He was a kid with bad breath and
messy hair, and he sat right behind me in Mrs. Pollock's grade-two class.
Bobby Decker didn't have a coat. I knew that because he never went out to
recess during the winter. His mother always wrote a note, telling the
teacher that he had a cough, but all we kids knew that Bobby Decker didn't
have a cough; he had no good coat.

I fingered the ten-dollar bill with growing excitement. I would buy Bobby
Decker a coat! I settled on a red corduroy one that had a hood to it. It
looked real warm, and he would like that. Is this a Christmas present for
someone? the lady behind the counter asked kindly, as I laid my ten dollars
down. Yes, ma'am, I replied shyly. It's for Bobby.

The nice lady smiled at me, as I told her about how Bobby really needed a
good winter coat. I didn't get any change, but she put the coat in a bag,
smiled again, and wished me a Merry Christmas.

That evening, Grandma helped me wrap the coat in Christmas paper and ribbons
(a little tag fell out of the coat, and Grandma tucked it in her Bible) and
wrote, To Bobby, From Santa Claus on it.

Grandma said that Santa always insisted on secrecy. Then she drove me over
to Bobby Decker's house, explaining as we went that I was now and forever
officially, one of Santa's helpers.

Grandma parked down the street from Bobby's house, and she and I crept
noiselessly and hid in the bushes by his front walk. Then Grandma gave me a
nudge. All right, Santa Claus, she whispered, get going. I took a deep
breath, dashed for his front door, threw the present down on his step,
pounded his doorbell and flew back to the safety of the bushes and Grandma.

Together we waited breathlessly in the darkness for the front door to open.
Finally it did, and there stood Bobby.

Fifty years haven't dimmed the thrill of those moments spent shivering,
beside my Grandma, in Bobby Decker's bushes. That night, I realized that
those awful rumors about Santa Claus were just what Grandma said they were:
ridiculous. Santa was alive and well, and we were on his team.

I still have the Bible, with the coat tag tucked inside: $19.95.


The Lights Of Christmas

It's the holiday season
Many lights will we see
yellow, red, blue and green
on every Christmas tree

Each color and hue
they are so important
and they are important
for me and for you

The first one is yellow
for the light of His word
its all in the bible
and all we have heard


The next one is red
His blood covers us
Jesus gives it all
When our sin we confess

Then there is blue
Be baptized we're told.
We musl follow him
with our heart and our soul


At last we have green
to the world we should go
to share each of these lights
with every living soul.


Good night everyone and Sweet Dreams! Hope your Tuesday will bring you much better health and happiness, a smile, and a prayer.
Enjoy the gift of God's Day!! Every day we have is a Gift!! Let us enjoy it to the fullest!!

Closing Prayer:
Dear Lord Jesus, we are all praying for Mary Ann, Ann (Twinnie's) sister, and we lift them both up to You, heal her according to Your Will, and Ann, too, be with her as she spends time with Mary. We ask this in your Holy Name, Jesus. I also wish to ask you to be especially near to our wonderful posters who aren't posting with us now. Please answer all their needs. Healing for Carmela, Oh Jesus, what can be done for her except your Healing Touch?
This I ask with all my heart. Amen.